Vitalizing Local Government Performance, Citizen Participation and Socioeconomic Development

This book is about citizen participation and its effects on local planning and local accountability, showing how participation can improve local government performance. It addresses the rhetoric of citizen participation and its negative effects such as discrimination, exclusions, elite captures, clientelism, and shallow participation. Applying mixed-methods of analysis, the book argues that local government performance depends substantially on circumstances, especially the degree of citizen participation, level of socioeconomic development, and the achieved state of social mobilization. As participation takes place in diverse socioeconomic and cultural settings, merely reforming institutions to make participation more inclusive and democratic alone is not sufficient.

About the Author :
Ganesh Prasad Pandeya holds a PhD in Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan. He has published a number of academic research articles in the areas of governance reform, local governance, citizen participation, and public sector performance. He has worked for the Government of Nepal for 35 years, especially in the sectors of local governance, economic development, and public policy, and has been credited with a range of successful reforms. Currently, he is a Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of the Ministers in the Government of Nepal.Tatsuo Oyama is an Adjunct Professor and Professor Emeritus at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan. He holds a PhD in Operations Research in Engineering from Cornell University, USA. His major research interests include operations research theory, quantitative public policy analysis, policy making in public sectors, and social systems analysis. He has published numerous academic research papers and journal articles, as well as 12 books.

Review :
'Decentralization in federal democracies has been widely recognized as a crucial factor in fostering inclusive democracies. Pandeya and Oyama's book explores the participation experience of Nepal, providing in-depth case studies and survey evidence. It highlights the importance of citizen participation, socio-economic development, and social mobilization in enhancing the capacity of local government to promote inclusive democracy. This book is a valuable resource for academics and practitioners involved in implementing inclusive democratic practices.'Rohini PandeHenry Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center, Yale University, USA